Zucchini Oat Pancakes (gluten-free, dairy-free option)

Filled with shredded zucchini, cinnamon and a touch of nutmeg, these healthy Zucchini Oat Pancakes are a great way to use up some of that extra zucchini, in a breakfast recipe!

Have you ever had too much zucchini?

If you garden and you like zucchini, chances are the answer is yes!

We were so inundated with zucchini last year. It was crazy. We only had two zucchini plants, but they were large and in charge, and pretty much took over our garden.

We gave away zucchini to friends, family… everyone. And we still had so. much. zucchini. Several bags were frozen.

I started to get creative with what we put the zucchini in. There was the classic zucchini bread, then zucchini bread granola bars, lemon zucchini oat muffins, zucchini bread breakfast cookies, and zucchini oat muffins, smoothies, casseroles, foil packets.. to name a few (for real).

And now, here I am, finally sharing my recipe for these super tasty Zucchini Oat Pancakes.

It’s like I took Zucchini Bread and turned it into healthy pancakes.

Made with oat flour for a healthy and filling breakfast, these pancakes are loaded with zucchini, cinnamon, a hint of nutmeg, and lightly sweetened with maple syrup.

They’re fluffy, hearty, and filled with end-of-summer flavors.

Feel free to throw in some walnuts and/or chocolate chips for extra fun too!

Let’s talk about ingredients.

First, oat flour. I recommend buying (certified gluten-free) oat flour, rather than blending up your own oats into oat flour. I’ve found that store bought oat flour is much finer than homemade, and that it can’t really be replicated (no matter how expensive your food processor or blender is).

However, if you only have oats or homemade oat flour, it is better to use thicker oat flour in pancakes rather than muffins that will crumble and fall apart. Ultimately, store bought or homemade should both work.

Next ingredient to talk about is maple syrup. I like to lightly sweeten my pancakes with a more natural sweetener, aka real maple syrup. You could also use honey, brown sugar, coconut sugar, and white sugar. Whatever you prefer really.

You can also use your favorite milk in these pancakes, like almond, skim, 2% or whole milk.

As you can see, these Zucchini Oat Pancakes are pretty flexible.

Most importantly, though, would be your zucchini! Be sure to pat your zucchini dry, like in between two paper towels or a large dish towel. You want to remove any excessive moisture from the zucchini, prior to adding it to your batter.

After making your pancake batter, depending on how juicy your zucchini was, you’ll want to be sure your batter is the right consistency. Patting the zucchini dry helps, but it’s always good to double check.

Wait for your pan to heat up, so the oat flour will have time to soak up some of the wet ingredients, then check it. If it’s too thin, try adding 1-2 more tablespoons of flour. If it’s too thick, try adding 1-2 more tablespoons of milk.

Then cook those pancakes up! Be sure to use a medium heat for oat flour based pancakes, and flip them carefully.

Top with butter, cinnamon sugar, maple syrup, blueberries, peach butter, walnuts, chocolate chips… and enjoy! 🙂

If you have too much zucchini and are looking for a fun, new and healthy recipe, I hope you and your family enjoy these Zucchini Oat Pancakes!

Pancake lover, like myself? Go check out my Banana Spinach Pancakes, Blueberry Pancakes, Oatmeal Pancakes, and Chocolate Oat Pancakes.